


Inconveniences

by notoriginalenoughforagoodusername



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anxiety, Combeferre is a really good friend, M/M, Mutual Pining, Panic Attacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-06
Updated: 2016-11-06
Packaged: 2018-08-29 10:47:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8486437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notoriginalenoughforagoodusername/pseuds/notoriginalenoughforagoodusername
Summary: Combeferre and Courfeyrac realize they both know that wanting to kiss your best friend all the time is really inconvenient.





	

Courfeyrac stood in front of the door with his hand raised like he was going to knock. He'd been standing there just like that for almost five minutes now. He hadn’t knocked yet. 

Why was he here? Why should he bother Combeferre with his problems? With his mess of a day, with his mess of a life? 

His mind was flipping back and forth between 'Combeferre cares, he’ll help you' and 'he doesn’t care, don’t bother him' very quickly, and before he could stop himself, he felt a stinging on his knuckles and heard a few soft thumps. Not long after he heard Combeferre’s voice through the door yell, “One second. I’m coming.” Courf used the last bit of time trying to wipe some of the tears off his face. 

The door opened and Combeferre’s face broke into a smile for a split second when he recognized Courf standing outside, but it fell away when he saw Courf’s face.

“Cou- Wait, Courf, what’s wrong? What happened?” 

“I, ummm- I didn’t have the best day,” Courf answered with a sniffle and reached up to wipe his cheeks again. “I can go if you want, I just didn-”

“Courf,” Combeferre cut him off. “Of course I don’t want you to go. Come on, come inside.” 

He stepped aside so Courf could make his way into the apartment. He did and stopped once he was in the door, unsure of what to do. Combeferre walked over as soon as he closed the door and immediately wrapped his arms around Courf’s shoulders. Courf broke down again, and instantly felt stupid for losing it over something so silly, but he couldn’t stop. 

“Hey, hey, Courf it’s okay, it’s okay,” Combeferre said as he started rubbing his hands along Courf’s back. He had to admit it helped a little- but not enough. 

Courf couldn’t tell exactly how long they stood like that until he realized his arms were stuck at his sides. He brought them up and wrapped them around Combeferre’s waist and pulled him closer as he pushed his face closer into his chest. 

He drew in quick ragged breaths, and Combeferre said, “Breath, Courf breath. Deep breaths, here, with me.” 

They stood like that until Courf’s breathing was closer to regular again. 

“Do you wanna tell me what’s wrong? Or do you just wanna ignore it for now?” Combeferre asked after a few minutes. Courf loved Ferre for not making him explain if he didn’t want to. Actually, that was one of many things he loved about Combeferre, but he was going to focus on that one for the moment. 

“No, I just- umm,” Courf said as he pulled back and wiped his eyes again. “I messed some things today, I got a little overwhelmed. And then I lost it and started doing this-” he gestured up to his eyes and cheeks to indicates that ‘this’ was crying. “And then I felt really stupid for that, and I didn’t know what to do, then I came here, then I didn’t want to bother you- and I have just not had a very good day.” He cut himself off when he realized he was rambling and wasn’t stopping to breathe as he spoke. He felt his eyes sting and knew tears were about to spill onto his cheeks again. 

He just needed to stop thinking. When he stopped thinking about it he would stop crying about it. 

He felt a few tears slide down his cheek and closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he felt Combeferre’s hands on his cheeks and his thumbs rubbing just under his eyes. 

“Hey Courf, it's gonna be okay,” Combeferre was saying in a soft voice. “Courf, you're fine, nothing's gonna happen to you. You are okay.” 

Combeferre’s face was very close to Courfeyrac’s. It was very distracting, which was what Courf needed to calm down- a distraction. He looked at Combeferre with wide eyes and started taking deep breaths again. After a few minutes his breath evened out and he calmed down. Combeferre seemed to realize it, because he smiled softly at Courfeyrac. 

Courf felt his heart beat a little faster again, this time for a different reason entirely. 

“Okay?” he asked softly. Courf nodded and reached up to cover his mouth in a yawn. “Here, come on Courf, you need to lay down.” 

“Mm-kay,” Courf agreed and nodded again, but leaned in and wrapped his arms around Combeferre again. “You really need to stop doing such nice things, Ferre.” 

“Mmmm, really? And why is that?” Combeferre asked sounding amused. 

“Because it really makes me wanna kiss you,” Courf mumbled into his chest without thinking. 

Combeferre’s arms tensed around Courfeyrac as he realized what he’d just said. Courf waited for his reaction, but Combeferre was quiet for a few seconds.

“Come on, you need to sleep,” he said eventually. Courf hummed in agreement into his chest, but didn’t forget what he said and that he needed to apologize as soon as he was sure he wouldn’t say something extremely stupid when he opened his mouth. 

“Do you want the bed or the couch?” Combeferre asked softly as he lifted Courf up to carry him to a different room. 

“Mmm, couch is, mmm, fine,” he answered around a yawn, burying his face into Combeferre’s chest. 

“Are you sure?” he asked, and Courf could feel his chest rumbling as he spoke. He just nodded, rubbing his face against the material of Combeferre’s shirt. “Okay.” 

A few minutes later, he had yanked his shoes from his feet, been covered in blankets, and had immediately passed out. 

* * * * *

When he woke up the next morning, he was missing one sock, the other was halfway off his foot, and he didn’t immediately remember where he was or why he was there. 

Then everything about the day before came back to him. 

He sat up as he felt his heart accelerate and his palms began to sweat as he remembered his day. He felt like crying by the time his brain reminded him of what he said to Combeferre. 

Suddenly he heard some shuffling from the hallway that lead to Combeferre’s room. Courf took a deep breath and tried to get some control of himself. Soon he saw Ferre turn the corner and join him in the room. 

“You okay?” Combeferre asked, glancing at Courf with a worried expression. 

“Oh, yeah I’m fine.” He wasn’t. He was nervous and over thinking things, and he definitely needed to stop if he didn’t want the conversation to end like the night before. Combeferre didn’t look convinced, but must have understood it was not something to urge Courf to talk about, so he dropped the subject. 

“Okay, do you want something to eat?” he asked instead.

“Umm, yeah. Food sounds great,” Courf said as he untangled himself from the blankets Combeferre had thrown over him earlier. 

“Okay, but I have to warn you, I’m not sure what I have here.”

“And why is that?” Courf questioned as he followed Combeferre into the tiny kitchen. 

“You do know my eating habits, right?” he answered as he began inspecting the contents of the refrigerator and avoided Courf’s eyes. 

“Yes, and we have discussed that you need to eat more,” Courf said in a disapproving tone. When Combeferre didn’t say anything he began searching for anything in the bare shelves of the pantry. “Combeferre this is just unacceptable.”

“Why?” 

“I think you have bread and half a box of cereal.”

“It’s better than nothing,” Combeferre countered with a shrug.

“IT’S PRACTICALLY NOTHING!” Courf yelled back with a small laugh. “You’re ridiculous.” 

He couldn’t believe he was in love with dork who didn’t seem to want to take care of himself. It was eating. It was simple. People need to eat. 

“Ehhh,” Combeferre said. 

“Combeferre,” Courf hissed in disapproval, which only caused his friend to smile at him. Courf did not need to deal with that smile right now. 

“Come on, I saw milk in the fridge. Cereal should work, if that’s okay with you,” Combeferre said. 

“Yeah, that works,” Courf answered and grabbed the cereal from the shelf. 

“Perfect,” he replied and reached for bowls for the two of them to use. 

A few minutes later, they had made their way to the couch as they ate. Silence filled the air and Courfeyrac didn’t like it at all, but before he could come up with a comment that could start a conversation, Combeferre’s phone started ringing from the other room. 

“Crap,” Combeferre said as he launched himself off the couch. He took off into his room and within a few seconds the ringing had stopped. “Hey, Enjolras.” he walked back into the room a lot calmer than how he had left it, with his phone pressed to his ear with one hand and the other still holding his bowl of cereal. “No, I don’t have one… I can pick one up on my way over… No, it’s not too far out of my way… No, it’s not… Yes, I’m sure… Okay, see you then. Bye.” he hung up as he sat back down on the couch. He hadn’t been close enough for Courf to hear any of the conversation from the speaker. 

“What was that about?” he questioned. 

“Enjolras just needed a copy of a book for the meeting later, so I told him I could get one from the library,” he answered as he brought another spoonful of cereal to his mouth. Courf definitely did not look at his lips as he spoke. 

“But the library is almost all the way across town from Enjolras’s place,” Courf stated. It wasn’t phrased as a question, but his tone said it was. 

“I’m gonna take it to the meeting, not his apartment.”

“The library is still almost all the way across town from the Musain.” 

“Oh well,” Combeferre said with a shrug, and he sounded like it honestly wasn’t an inconvenience. 

“You’re too nice,” Courf declared. Combeferre titled his head in confusion. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked. 

“It means you do too many nice things for our idiot friends,” Courf answered like it was the only thing he was sure of in the world. He looked at Combeferre again, who was wearing an odd expression. “Just say it.” Courf added in a demanding tone. 

“Say what?” Combeferre tried to play dumb, as if he didn’t know Courf knew what every single look that crossed his face meant. 

“Whatever’s making you have your ‘should I say it or not face,’” Courf answered. He really, really shouldn’t have. 

“If I’m always doing nice things does that mean you always wanna kiss me?” Combeferre asked and fixed his eyes on his cereal. 

“Yes,” Courf answered quickly before he could stop himself. When his mind caught up with his mouth his eyes widened as he made the connection to what he said the night before. He stared at Combeferre, who was staring at him with eyes just as wide as his. 

“Wait, really?” he asked quietly. Well, Courf though, might as well. 

“If you can’t tell I’m dead serious either I’m not as obvious as I thought or you’re more oblivious than I thought.” 

Combeferre stared at him with shock written all over his features before setting his bowl down on the floor next to the couch. Courf made a mental note to remind him it was there when he got off the couch to be as far away from him as possible. 

“Courf, are you-” he started, but Courfeyrac cut him off. He really just wanted to get the rejection over with so he could start to recover from it sooner. 

“Serious? Yes,” Courf began. “Why would I lie about it? Why would I make it up? And it really sucks, you know, wanting to kiss your best friend all the time. It’s pretty damn inconvenient.” 

“I know, Courf,” Combeferre said, and it made Courf’s heart pound in his chest. “Oh, trust me, I know.” 

“What do you mean?” There was no way wanted to kiss him. There just wasn’t. “Do you wanna kiss Enjolras? Do you like Enjolras like that? Because I hate to tell you it’s pointless with the way he looks at Grantaire, he couldn’t be more obvi-” 

“Courf, that is not what I meant.” He said it softly, like a laugh, but there was no humor in it so it came out as more of a simple exhale. 

There was no way Combeferre meant what Courfeyrac thought that meant, because Courf thought that meant Combeferre wanted to kiss him. Courf couldn’t wrap his head around that simple thought, so he said so. 

“Okay, there’s no way you mean what I think you mean.” 

“I’m pretty sure I do.” And Courf’s brain came to a complete stop. “Can I?” Combeferre added. 

“What?” Courf wasn’t connecting any dots in the situation any more. 

“Can I kiss you?” Combeferre’s eyes search Courf’s for any sign of an answer as Courf finally regained control of his thoughts. 

“Ferre, what kinda dumbass question is tha-” He never got to finish getting the last word out, because Combeferre had pressed his lips to Courf’s. 

His mind went completely blank. All he could focus on was the feeling of Combeferre’s lips on his, and oh, it was a great feeling. Combeferre’s lips were soft against his own and he never wanted the feeling to end. It was the cheesiest thing he could have possibly thought, but now he really understood why it was how people always described kissing. He’d kissed other people before, definitely, but none of those kisses ever made him feel like this. 

Soon, he felt Combeferre’s arms wrapping around his waist and he responded by bringing his arms up to Combeferre’s neck. He felt Combeferre smile against his lips, and he pulled away and rested his forehead against Combeferre’s. They both had huge smiles on their faces and laughed a little bit when they locked eyes. 

“I’ve wanted to do that for a really, really long time,” Combeferre whispered. 

“Me too,” Courf replied. 

“Oh my god, we could’ve been doing that for so long,” Combeferre said and Courf realized he had a point. 

“Damn,” he said softly before leaning in and kissing Combeferre again. It was a great thing to realize that he would be able to do this whenever he wanted from now on. It didn’t last long, though, because Combeferre’s phone started ringing again. 

“Ugh,” he grunted as he pulled his lips from Courf’s and looked down at the screen. “It’s Enjolras. I’m sorry, I should probably-” 

“Yeah,” Courf said. He couldn’t pretend to he wasn’t disappointed, but he knew Enjolras only called when something was important. Combeferre tapped the screen and raised the phone to his ear. 

“Hello.” 

“Hey, Ferre.” Courf was excited that he was close enough to hear the exchange this time, admittedly for more than one reason. 

“What’s going on?” Combeferre asked kindly. 

“Do you know where Courf is?” Grins split across both of their faces when the question came through the phone speaker. “Marius said he didn’t go home last night and he’s not answering his phone.” 

“Oh yeah, I live with him,” Courf whispered. 

“Wait, Courf are you there?” Enjolras asked, not sounding too surprised. 

“Yeah, I came over last night because I didn’t have the best day, and I ended up staying the night,” he said into the phone. “And my phone must have died, I haven’t thought about it.” 

“Oh okay. Am I on speaker or something?” he asked. 

“No,” Courf answered, confusion in his voice. 

“Then why are you close enough to the phone to hear me?” it was an odd and seemingly irrelevant question, but when Courf looked at Combeferre he seemed to have the question of how to explain in his eyes, but Courf knew he was asking if they could tell the truth. Courf nodded excitedly as a smirk spread across his face. 

“Well,” Combeferre started casually. “We were kinda- well not kind of- we were making out on my couch and you kind of interrupted it.” 

“Yeah, it was very rude Enj,” Courf added. 

“Wait are you two serious?” Enjolras asked. He sounded like the answer would decide the fate of the world or something just as serious. 

“Yes,” they both said at the same time. 

“Finally,” Enjolras said. “It took you two long enough, you have both been so obvious.” 

“Okay, thanks Enjolras,” Courf said. “Please tell Marius I’m fine.” 

“Oh yeah, okay. See you guys later,” he answered and ended the call. Combeferre and Courfeyrac looked at each other and laughed again. 

“He might have a point,” Combeferre said with a grin. 

“Shut up,” Courf replied and leaned in to kiss him again.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic includes the most hypocritical scene I've ever written. 
> 
> Also, how do I title? I have no idea.


End file.
